# C_2022198EN.01001301.xml

| 16.5.2022 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 198/13 |
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16.5.2022

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 198/13

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Order of the Court (Eighth Chamber) of 25 March 2022 — (request for a preliminary ruling from the Spetsializiran nakazatelen sad — Bulgaria) — Criminal proceedings against IP, DD, ZI, SS, HYA

(Case C-609/21) (1)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Article 99 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice - Article 4(3) TEU - Article 267 TFEU - Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union - Article 47, second paragraph - Article 94 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court - Content of a request for a preliminary ruling - National rule providing for the national criminal court to decline jurisdiction on the basis that it expressed a view on the facts of the case in the request for a preliminary ruling on pain of annulment of the decision to be given on the merits of the case - Article 18 TFEU - Article 21(2) of the Charter - Article 23 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union - Requirement for national courts to inform their own Member State of any request for a preliminary ruling submitted to the Court)

(2022/C 198/19)

Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Spetsializiran nakazatelen sad

Parties in the main criminal proceedings

IP, DD, ZI, SS, HYA

Operative part of the order

| 1. | Article 267 TFEU and Article 94(1)(a) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, read in the light of Article 4(3) TEU and the second paragraph of Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, must be interpreted as precluding a national rule which requires courts hearing criminal cases, when they make factual findings in the context of a request for a preliminary ruling made to the Court, to decline jurisdiction on pain of annulment of the decision to be given on the merits of the case. Such a rule must be disregarded by those courts and by any authority empowered to apply it. |
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1.

Article 267 TFEU and Article 94(1)(a) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, read in the light of Article 4(3) TEU and the second paragraph of Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, must be interpreted as precluding a national rule which requires courts hearing criminal cases, when they make factual findings in the context of a request for a preliminary ruling made to the Court, to decline jurisdiction on pain of annulment of the decision to be given on the merits of the case. Such a rule must be disregarded by those courts and by any authority empowered to apply it.

| 2. | Article 18 TFEU, Article 21(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Article 23 of the Statute of the Court of Justice must be interpreted as precluding legislation of a Member State requiring a court which has submitted a request for a preliminary ruling to send a copy of that request to the authority responsible for representing that Member State before the Court. |
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2.

Article 18 TFEU, Article 21(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Article 23 of the Statute of the Court of Justice must be interpreted as precluding legislation of a Member State requiring a court which has submitted a request for a preliminary ruling to send a copy of that request to the authority responsible for representing that Member State before the Court.

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(1)  Date of filing: 28.9.2021.

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